A New Way to Cool Processors

Nearly everybody on Earth uses computers these days. Back when it was first invented, very few could envision that the computer could be a practical option in households across the world. But it has been and it will continue to be an indispensable tool for the future. But very few are unaware of how computers actually work. It's very delicate, with many parts performing functions in order for the computer just to work. Perhaps the most important is the computer processor, which is considered to be the "brain" of the computer.

The processor is very small, but is big in its importance to the functioning of a computer. One of the main disadvantages to processors today is that, despite being very efficient, tend to accumulate large amounts of heat, which can hamper functionality and its lifetime. This is not just a problem for computers, but for a lot of different electronic systems. Fortunately, a research team from Chalmers University in Sweden have found a way to dramatically cool down electronic systems by focusing on cooling down the processor.

Essentially, they added a layer of graphene to the "hotspots" on the processor, tiny spots that are the size of one-thousandth of a millimeter  in order to cool it down. Graphene has recently been realized as the "miracle material" and could potentially change the future in a lot of different ways. Basically, it's a sheet of pure carbon. It's the thinnest material, an atom thick, the lightest material, the strongest material, and the best conductor of electricity known to man.

According to Johan Liu, who leads the research team, " The normal working temperature in the hotspots we have cooled has ranged from 55 to 115 degrees Celsius. We have been able to reduce this by up to 13 degrees, which not only improves energy efficiency, it also extends the working life of the electronics." 

Clearly, this discovery has huge implications for the future, as cooling of electronics is a huge problem. In fact, in 2006, nearly 50 percent of the total electricity used to run data servers went into cooling the systems. This discovery may even be a gateway for other researchers to test other materials that could also potentially cool down electronics in order to make them more efficient. 

Published Research Report

I have recently gotten the pleasure of publishing a research report that I wrote a few months ago regarding my 2012 Science Fair topic about building a computer-based audiometer. It is published in the International Journal of Engineering Research and Applications (IJERA).

The published research report can be found here:
http://www.ijera.com/papers/Vol3_issue4/GS3412321244.pdf

There are also many other great articles that are published in this issue of IJERA. They can be found here:
http://www.ijera.com/pages/current_issue.html

Enjoy!

CFCs are the cause of global warming, not CO2

According to a study done at the University of Waterloo, CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons) have discovered to been the driving cause of global warming, not carbon dioxide, which is a greenhouse gas. CFCs are synthetic chemicals that were created to eliminate toxic and flammable substances in refrigeration units and air conditioning units as well. Scientists soon discovered that CFCs were the cause of the depletion of ozone, which is useful for protecting people from ultraviolet radiation. Now, it has been discovered that CFCs also cause global warming.

"Conventional thinking says that the emission of human-made non-CFC gases such as carbon dioxide has mainly contributed to global warming. But we have observed data going back to the Industrial Revolution that convincingly shows that conventional understanding is wrong," said Qing-Bin Lu, a professor of physics at Waterloo.

Lu discovers that since 2002, global temperatures have actually declined, which correlates with a decline in the CFCs or chlorofluorocarbons since that period of time. Data recorded between 1850 and 1970, before any CFCs were created, shows that there was an increase in CO2 levels as a result of the Industrial Revolution, but the global temperature itself did not change and only kept constant. Empirically, temperatures should have risen by at least 1 degree over that same period, similar to the period between 1970 and 2002, when CFCs were being used for commercial purposes.

So what are the implications of this study for the long term? Does this mean we can continue to use fossil fuels without being worrisome?

Well carbon dioxide emissions do have other ramifications. However, Terry McMachon, dean of the faculty of science at Waterloo states that, "This study (done by Professor Lu) underlines the importance of understanding the basic science underlying ozone depletion and global climate change. The research is of particular importance not only to the research community, but to policy makers and the public alike as we look to the future of our climate."

In one word, this study is quite groundbreaking because it has completely changed our way of thinking and will completely change our way of thinking for the entire future. 

Makani Wind Turbine Changes the Game

This, again, is another post about alternative energy. As you can see, I am really passionate about this topic. And the main reason for that is that it is the future of our world, whether we like it or not. We will have to stop depending on fossil fuels soon and start looking at other alternatives. But instead of talking about solar energy, I'll be focusing on a new advancement in wind energy. As we know, wind energy has been around forever. People have used windmills forever for several industrial uses. But today, we are more accustomed to seeing wind turbines as the prominent machines that utilize the power of the wind.

Interestingly enough, wind energy is an indirect form of solar energy. The sun heats the surface of the earth and so the air on the surface and also heats up and will rise as a result. Then colder air in the atmosphere moves into the spots where the hot air used to be. This continuous movement of air is what we refer to as "wind."

Wind turbines are machines that capture the wind to generate electricity for commercial and domestic use. The blades of the fan spin due to the wind and consequently spin a generator in the hub of the turbine and generate electricity. It's really quite fascinating to think how people even thought about building this technology.

The primary problem with wind energy, just like solar energy, is the lack of efficiency. It is a little more cost-efficient than solar energy, but it still not considered a practical option. Another major complaint is that wind turbines make a lot of noise and may also disturb activity in the air. Fortunately, a small power company in California named Makani Power was recently granted 3 million dollars to augment their already efficient AIRBORNE wind turbine.

Yes, I said airborne, not on the ground. It's pretty revolutionary! And it's pretty simple. When it's not in use, it will be stowed to the ground. When there is enough wind to generate a significant amount of energy, the turbine will be launched in the air and hover like a helicopter in a circular formation in the air. Then wind will spin the propellers and generators on the turbine in order to generate and store electricity.

Now, why exactly would people want this Makani turbine instead of the conventional wind turbine? Cost-efficiency is a big answer. It can produce almost twice the amount of energy for nearly half the cost. It can also reach much higher altitudes where winds are much faster and much more consistent. They can also be used in the water, which increases the potential of wind energy.

All in all, the Makani turbine is a game changer! It's a huge advancement in wind energy. People can stop looking down upon wind energy and finally start to respect it for once. Just kidding, I'm sure it's not that way. But start getting excited because alternative energy is coming soon, very soon!  

MIT's new solar-cell uses quantum dots AND wires

I've always been interested in renewable energy and its efficiency. Knowing its potential to change the world and help the environment definitely excites me. In elementary school and in middle school, I looked at optimizing the efficiency of certain renewable energies like solar, bio fuels, and wind. But what I did in my own house as a teenager hardly compares to what MIT has recently created. 

MIT News recently released an article showing how a solar cell that uses both quantum dots and nano wires works much more efficiently than a solar cell that purely uses quantum dots. Quantum dots are tiny semiconductors that have, over the past couple of years, have been discovered to increase the efficiency of traditional photovoltaic cells. In addition to increasing efficiency, quantum dots do have other several advantages. They can be manufactured at room temperature which saves energy and reduces all complications associated with the high-temperature processing of silicon. Also, they can be produced much quicker and much more inexpensively than silicon. 

However, at the same time, these quantum dot solar cells are still not the most efficient option in generating electricity because of an interesting inconsistency associated with photovoltaic cells. A solar cell's layer needs to be thin to allow the charges to pass easily from the surface of the cell to the wires that carry the current, but also thick enough to absorb incoming light efficiently. Joel Jean, a student at MIT’s Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) says that improved performance in one of these areas tends to worsen the other.

This is where MIT makes a pretty big step in advancing solar energy. They have created nano wires made of zinc oxide that are extremely effective in conducting energy but also long enough to the point where light absorption is no longer a significant concern. The research team discovered that their newly created design increased the electricity generated by the solar cell by 50 percent and increased the overall efficiency by about 35 percent. 

There has already been a very positive reaction to MIT's revolutionary creation. Mark Thompson, a professor of chemistry at USC compliments the research by saying that was a "real advance" and that it may be "only the beginning, and as they continue to improve their process, we will see even higher efficiencies."

In comparison to other types of renewable energy like wind or hydroelectric, solar energy has always been considered one of the least practical options, as it is a very expensive type of energy and doesn't always yield the highest results. The recent design by MIT may only be in the early stages, but it does show that we have not yet realized the full potential of solar energy. We can still discover new advances and new technologies to make this specific type of energy better. I've always had a passion for renewable energy, specifically solar energy, and this discovery only gives me more hope that in the near future, we will be able to completely replace all harmful, non-renewable sources of energy like coal and petroleum with clean energy. 

The full MIT Press article can be accessed here: http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2013/nanowires-quantum-dots-solar-cell-0325.html

2013 Abstract- Comparing the Sound Fidelity of Different Sound Compression Methods

As personal listening devices have drastically proliferated in recent years, compressing audio files has become a ubiquitous process in order to save space. Although compressing can be beneficial, many compression methods can result in a loss of sound quality. The goal of this project was to determine which audio format has the highest sound fidelity. 

Sound fidelity is the measure of how accurately a compression method is able to reproduce the original uncompressed audio file. In this experiment, two lossless methods, .flac and .ape (Monkey’s Audio), and four lossy methods, .mp3, .wma, .ogg, .aac, were compared for sound fidelity. To test the different audio formats, different WAV files containing sine waves, square waves, and complex waves were created and obtained. WAV is an uncompressed audio format and is the baseline in this experiment. The WAV file was then compressed to audio formats listed above in four different bit rates (32,64,128,256 kbps) to ensure a comprehensive analysis of audio formats. These audio files were then opened in a program called NCH WavePad Sound Editor which possessed an FFT function and allowed for the conduction of a spectrum analysis, which determines the magnitude at each frequency in a certain audio signal. The spectrum analysis chart of each format was compared to the spectrum analysis of the WAV file. The more similarity that existed between the two charts, the higher the sound fidelity was of that format. 

The significance of this project is that it displays that other formats exist that have higher fidelity than MP3 while also having a smaller file size. This means that we can reduce our hard drives’ power consumption and carbon footprint while maintaining sound quality.